‘Rethinking the Nineteenth Century’ is a new
series that seeks to make a significant
intervention into the critical narratives that dominate conventional and
established understandings of nineteenth-century literature. Informed by the
latest developments in criticism and theory the series will provide a focus for
how texts from the long nineteenth century, and more recent adaptations of
them, revitalise our knowledge of and engagement with the period. It will
explore the radical possibilities offered by new methods, unexplored contexts
and neglected authors and texts to re-map the literary-cultural landscape of
the period and rigorously re-imagine its geographical and historical
parameters. To that end the series welcomes provocative approaches to the
literature of the long nineteenth century that will contribute to or ignite
debate on any aspect of nineteenth-century literature. Relevant topics include
but are not limited to: the development of the period from ‘Romantic’ to
‘Victorian’ to ‘Modern’ and the complex inheritances that make up and/or
challenge the genealogy of the long nineteenth century (1780-1914); the global
contexts within which literary and cultural exchanges take place throughout the
period; the opportunities provided by cross-disciplinary approaches to rethink
the literary in relation to different kinds of textual production and knowledge
exchange; and the presence of the nineteenth-century in contemporary literature
and culture and the development of the neo-Victorian, which uses text and
non-text based media to deconstruct, reconstruct and market the
nineteenth-century in ways that might illuminate our own.

To celebrate open access week our first open access author, Duncan Wilson, has taken part in a Q and A, with Editorial Director, Emma Brennan, about the open access process and his new book The making of British bioethics.

EB: What is it about open access that appeals to you both in
general, and for your book in particular?

DW: I am always keen that my work should reach as many
people as possible, including public as well as academic audiences, and I see
open access as an important way of achieving this. This is particularly true of
my work on the history of bioethics. The emergence of bioethics in recent
decades reflects important shifts in the politics of science and medicine,
where philosophers, lawyers, social scientists and others now discuss and help
regulate issues that used to be left to doctors and scientists, including in
vitro fertilisation, embryo research and ‘assisted dying’. The ways in which
bioethicists discussed and helped regulate these often controversial procedures
influenced public debates and the choices available to patients, so it’s
important that we understand how and why bioethicists acquired such authority. Since
bioethics continues to have significant public and political impacts, I think my
book should be easily accessible to anyone who is interested in the ethics of
science and medicine.

EB: Do you see any downsides to your book being on open
access?

DW: Like some colleagues, I was concerned that anyone might
be able to copy my work and present it as their own. There are ways to prevent
this though, and my book is published under a license that stops anyone copying
and not attributing it to me.

EB: Are there specific groups of people who you think will
be able to read your book on open access who might otherwise not have been able
to do so?

DW: Definitely. High book prices often put off many of the
people I’d like my work to reach the most. It would be great if the book was
widely read by undergraduate or postgraduate students in history and bioethics,
amongst other fields, who’d borrow a book from the library but wouldn’t
normally buy it. Articles I’ve previously published open access have been
downloaded by students, and I hope the same happens with the book. I also hope
it’s read by members of the public who are interested in bioethics, but
wouldn’t normally pay for an academic book on the subject.

EB: Would you advise others to go open access with their
books too?

DW: Yes, absolutely.

EB: Has open access or open access publishing changed the
way you approach a research project?

DW: I wouldn’t say so. I’ve
always looked to research issues that interest a wide range of people, both
inside and outside of universities. I’ve always tried to write clearly too, in
the hope that non-specialists will be interested in my work.That hasn’t changed with the advent of open
access publishing, but I do hope it means that my work will reach a much wider
audience than it did before.